Astier Nicolas and Babylon de Gamma. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
It’s a lightning-fast update from us here at Military Boekelo this morning, where we’ve just seen over 70 horses present at the final trot-up and now we’re already just moments away from the start of showjumping. Speed-running a Sunday morning is one way to wake up, we suppose.
Another failsafe way to get slapped around the face by a Sunday morning is to watch the top ten of the competiton reshape itself before your eyes, and that’s exactly what happened here. Of the 79 finishers yesterday, we saw 76 come forward to trot up after overnight withdrawals from Hong Kong’s Yuxuan Su and Ventura, 49th after a cross-country clear with 12 time penalties, New Zealand’s Sam Lissington and her Blenheim eight- and nine-year-old champion Quantas R, 17th after finishing just two seconds over the optimum time, and Germany’s Christoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH, who had sat in seventh position overnight with their clear inside the time.
They’re not the only pair to take their leave from our overnight top ten. The ground jury of President Angela Tucker, Edith Schless-Störtenbecker, and Andrew Bennie sent five combinations to the holding box over the course of the inspection, and four of those went on to be accepted: they were Ireland’s Joseph Murphy and Barberstown Castle Rehy (66th), compatriots Suzanne Hagan and OBOS Take One (62nd), Italy’s Andrea Docimo and Tradewinds Alfredo (77th), and 20-year-old Dutchman Tijn de Blaauw and The Joker, who hold the overnight lead in the Dutch National Championship and sit 51st in the overall standings. But unsuccessful in their re-presentation were France’s Astier Nicolas and Babylon de Gamma, who were ninth with a clear inside the time.
This opens the door Ireland’s Susie Berry and John the Bull to move up to ninth ahead of showjumping, while Switzerland’s Nadja Minder and Top Job’s Jalisco now sit tenth.
Laura Collett remains in the lead with Count Onyx after a prolonged flag review yesterday, and the margins at the top couldn’t be much tighter: she’s just 0.2 penalties ahead of second-placed Jesse Campbell and Speedwell, so at this stage, she won’t even have a second of time in hand. Ireland’s Padraig McCarthy and MGH Zabaione aren’t far behind either – they’re 0.7 penalties behind Jesse and remain less than a penalty off the lead. A rail covers the top 14 at this stage.
Showjumping will begin shortly at 10.30 a.m. local time (9.30 a.m. BST/4.30 a.m. EST) – or at least, that’s what we’re currently being told with confirmation to follow. The top 25 should be jumping from 13.30 local time (12.30 p.m. BST/7.30 a.m. EST) – again, we’re chasing some kind of confirmation on this at this end and will keep you updated when we know more. As throughout the week, it’ll be broadcast on ClipMyHorse.TV if you want to follow the action as it happens. We’ll be back later with lots more from the exciting finale of this year’s FEI Nations Cup and the individual competition, too. Let’s Go Eventing!
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